JHS FINDS SEMIS WITH LATE RALLY

One of Jackson coach Sam Sides' oft-repeated laments has been about his team's lack of timely hitting. For one game, at least, his Indians came through.

Jackson staged a late-inning rally with six runs in the bottom of the sixth to pull out an 11-6 victory over Poplar Bluff in the first round of the 4A, District 1 baseball tournament at Cape Central's Tiger Field.

The win propelled the fourth-seeded Indians into Wednesday's 4:15 p.m. semifinal against top-seeded Sikeston.

"We got some big hits at the right time today, something we haven't been doing in big games," said Sides.

Jackson (12-8), which found itself ahead early via a three-run home run by Toby Freeman in the first inning, was in need of a comeback after Poplar Bluff (5-15) overcame the early deficit.

The Mules scored four runs in the fourth to take their own three-run lead. Ahead 6-3, Poplar Bluff saw Jackson score eight unanswered runs.

After Jackson scored single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, the Indians overtook the Mules in the sixth.

The Indians sent 10 batters to the plate in the inning with five of their 10 hits on the game and chased Mule starter Grant Gambling in the process. Three of the hits were for extra bases, including a two-run homer by Michael Birk that capped the inning.

After walking Nathan Brown and giving up a sharp base hit to Freeman, Gambling was relieved by Austin Armes. Lance Limbaugh, the first batter to face Armes, hit a slicing liner in the gap in left-centerfield to score two and put Jackson ahead to stay at 7-6. Rick Renfroe followed with an RBI double and scored on a Jason Brown single. Birk followed with his blast over the left-field fence.

Lucas McCulley, who followed Josh Hopkins and John Jackson on the mound, pitched the final two innings to get the win. McCulley struck out three and allowed three hits.

Sides didn't seem overly concerned about having to use three pitchers in the game.

"We can't worry about Wednesday," said Sides. "When you don't win today, Wednesday never comes."

Sides indicated Limbaugh will likely start against Sikeston in the semifinals.

Freeman finished with two hits and four RBIs on the day while Birk had two hits and two RBIs. Brown drew four walks and came around to score twice.

In the first, the Indians grabbed a 3-0 lead on Freeman's home run to left field. Freeman's dinger followed a catcher's interference call and a walk.

After Hopkins retired Poplar Bluff 1-2-3 in the first two innings, he surrendered a leadoff home run to Andrew Barker in the third. A walk, a single by Ryan Whelan, and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Erick Schuermann plated another run for the visitors.

In the fourth, things started to unravel for Jackson. A combination of Hopkins' inability to find the plate (back-to-back walks-the first was erased on a steal attempt) coupled with a bloop double down the right field line on an excuse-me swing by Stan Revelle gave the Mules runners on second and third with one out.

With Jackson taking the hill in relief of Hopkins, the plate continued to be hard to find for Indian hurlers. He issued two walks wrapped around a strikeout which sent another Poplar Bluff run home to tie the score at 3-3.

Schuermann then cleared the bases with a triple as Jackson's right fielder missed a shoestring catch and the ball rolled to the fence. The hit put Sikeston ahead 6-3.

Jackson came back to score one in the home half of the fourth as Tory Myer singled and later scored on a wild pitch. In the fifth, Lance Limbaugh was hit by a pitch and pinch-hitter Brad Berry singled up the middle to put runners on first and second. Michael Birk followed with an RBI single as Jackson cut the lead to 6-5.